Israel demolishes West Bank water infrastructure
TUBAS (Ma‘an) 13 Sept -- ...Palestinian farmer Muwaffaq Abdul-Raziq said troops demolished his well in Khirbet Atuf, near Tubas. The well cost him 750,000 shekels (around $202,000) to construct, he said, adding that he had obtained a license to build it. The well was expected to pump enough water to irrigate around 700 dunums of farmland, Abdul-Raziq said. He appealed to the Palestinian Authority to protect farmers in the Jordan Valley from Israel.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces destroyed two Palestinian wells on the outskirts of An-Nassariya, a village northeast of Nablus, Palestinian security sources and eyewitnesses said. The wells were recently dug by Palestinians. Israeli rights group B'Tselem said another two wells were destroyed at the same village last week.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419716

Israeli military continue to target water wells in the West BankIMEMC/Agencies 14 Sept -- An Israeli military force invaded Al-Far‘a area in the eastern part of
the West Bank near Tubas near the Jordan Vally. The military took
photographs of the existing water aquifers in the area, and informed the
residents that they will come back to destroy the aquifers. Hussein Al-Hmud, head of the village council of Al-Far‘a said that
destroying the aquifers will harm most of the residents who highly
depend on these water resources for their agriculture which is their
only source of income. In addition destroying the water resources will deprive all the region
from its main source of drinking water which will cause a serious
problem in the area.http://www.imemc.org/article/62019

Land owners prevented from farming by Israeli soldiers / Nigel O'Connor
[photos] Pal. Monitor 12 Sept -- A Palestinian man
was hospitalized yesterday following his arrest by Israeli police. He
and other Palestinian landowners were attempted to farm their land near
the Israeli settlement Karmei Tsur. Farmers from Beit Ummar were
clearing land to ready it for planting when an estimated 20 Israeli
military personnel ordered them to leave. A British man was also
arrested after he continued working with the farmers. There were clashes
between settlers and the Israeli military as Karmei
Tsur residents attempted to breach the community’s boundary to attack
the Palestinians. The crowd of men and boys grew boisterous as their
numbers swelled and shouted at the soldiers in Hebrew to stop the
Palestinians from working because it was the Jewish Sabbath ... The land
had not been worked since 2005 after settler violence had
increased following the second Intifada. With the recent construction of
a children’s playground on his land, by Karmei Tsur settlers, Riyad
said he feared the settlement would attempt to claim the adjoining area
in order to expand the community.http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1790

Israel to forcibly evict Bedouins from West Bank / Amira Hass
Haaretz 14 Sept -- The Civil Administration is expected to begin forcefully moving
Bedouin in the West Bank to a permanent location as part of a plan to
remove all the Bedouin in Area C (under both Israel's civilian and
military aegis) from lands they have been living on for decades. The plan will eventually relocate Bedouin
living in other areas of the West Bank. According to various
calculations, some 27,000 Bedouin live in the West Bank, mostly in Area
C ... The plan to move the Bedouin to permanent locations about which Haaretz
learned from Bedouin sources in the area and from diplomats and
international aid groups, was made without consulting them.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israel-to-forcibly-evict-bedouins-from-west-bank-1.384290

'The worst day in a Beduin's life'JPost 13 Sept -- For Khalil Alamour and many of his Beduin brethren, the cabinet’s approval on
Sunday of a plan to resettle and provide economic development assistance to tens
of thousands of villagers was nothing less than “the worst day in a Beduin’s
life.” “I hope that the government won’t carry out this bad plan,” he
told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. “The people here feel really bad that the
government is eliminating their existence, their culture, their way of
living. This is the worst day in a Beduin’s life.”http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=237730&R=R2

Settlers assault workers and hit a boy with car in the West BankIMEMC 14 Sept -- Israeli settlers from the settlement
of Itamar, near the West Bank city of Nablus assaulted three Palestinian
workers Wednesday morning. The
workers are from the town of Beit Fajjar near Bethlehem and suffered
moderate wounds and bruises in different parts of their bodies. The
settlers also set fire to their car before they left them in the street.
In Hebron, a Palestinian boy suffered moderate wounds when hit by a
settler car near in the city. The boy was moved to the hospital for
medical treatment.http://www.imemc.org/article/62018

Settlers burn ISM tent in East Jerusalem's Sheikh JarrahAIC 14 Sept -- At about 2am on Monday, 11 September, settlers in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah burnt to the ground an International Solidarity Movement tent that had been established to monitor and prevent settler violence in the neighborhood. The tent, which thankfully was empty at the time it was torched, had been located in the front yard of the al-Kurd family home since March 2011. The Al-Kurd family, who have lived on the property since 1956, reside in the back section of their home while a constantly rotating cast of Orthodox Jewish young men occupy the front extension of their home. This is due to an Israeli court ruling that forbids the Al-Kurd family from living in their home extension, which they built with their own hands in 2000. Since it was occupied with settlers in 2008, the al-Kurd family has been forced to endure an uneasy, tense and potentially violent co-existence with settlers in their own home.http://www.alternativenews.org/english/index.php/topics/jerusalem/3821

Sheikh Jarrah in need of more international presence[photos] ISM 13 Sept -- In the early hours of September 12th, local illegal settlers
in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, torched and destroyed a protest tent ... Due to a lack of volunteers, no internationals inhabited the tent on the
night of the incident. Mohamed, a local, stated, "If there was somebody
in the tent last night, it would not have happened. They would not
dare. Maybe they try to insult, but they would not dare. They don’t like
the tent, with or without volunteers. They hate this kind of symbol." ... This is not the only case of harassment perpetrated by settlers in
Sheikh Jarrah -- abusive behavior typical of local settlers have included
violent verbal incitement, sexual harassment, spitting, throwing rocks,
provoking their dogs to attack, and throwing fecal matter into the
protest tent.http://palsolidarity.org/2011/09/20152/

'I dream that the settlers surround me' - 10-year-old boy haunted by attack
[photos] Pal. Monitor 12 Sept -- “I dream that the settlers surround me. Then they catch me and try to
choke me,” says 10-year old Bassam Hathaleen. He sits at his father’s
side in the small bedouin village of Sawhla al-Sharkwa. Since the settler attack one and a half weeks ago, on August 27th, he has had trouble sleeping and often wakes in the night with nightmares. On the morning of August 27th, Bassam remembers, "I [had
fallen] asleep under a tree and woke up when a man hit me three times on
the head and once on the shoulder." Bassam reveals three lines of stitches on his head. He remembers a
crowd of masked settlers, he estimated around 14, watching him in
silence while one of them beat him with a metal bar. The settlers also
stole five sheep and killed three, he says. Following the incident,
Israeli forces arrested ten settlers from Migron, of whom Bassam could
clearly identify two as assailants.http://www.palestinemonitor.org/?p=1741

Israeli forces- checkpoints, raids, arrests

Israeli army sets up checkpoints in some West Bank areasIMEMC 13 Sept -- Palestinian security sources said that Israeli soldiers blocked the
western and southern entrances of Jenin and stopped passengers and
interrogated them. Troops also thoroughly searched passengers cars and documents which cause people to queue for long hours.
In addition, eyewitnesses said Israeli military patrolled the eastern
part of the West Bank looking for water wells, claimed to be
unauthorized. Israel does not allow the Palestinians to dig for water wells and
aquifers as part of its attempt to keep control over water resources in
the region.In the meantime, troops setup a military checkpoint at the entrance of
the village of Beit Fajjar, south of Bethlehem and stopped vehicles in
the late hours of Monday night. Palestinian sources said that Israeli
troops arrested four Palestinians, three from Beit Fajjar and one from
Hebron. http://www.imemc.org/article/62012

Not school time yet for Bedouin girls / Jillian Kestler-D'AmoursABU TULUL, Negev Desert (IPS) 12 Sept -- For mother of five Shimaa al-Aasam, providing her children with the opportunity to complete their education despite a severe lack of classrooms in their Bedouin community is of prime importance. "It’s a tragedy. Learning is the most important thing in the world," al-Aasam, a resident of the Bedouin village of Abu Tulul in the Negev desert, told IPS. "If they continue their studies, they can go so much further in their lives." Approximately 12,000 Bedouin citizens of Israel live in the area of Abu Tulul. Presently, 2,600 students attend three schools in the area, from elementary through junior high school levels. Abu Tulul students previously attended high school in the nearby Bedouin town Segev Shalom, but they are no longer welcomed there due to lack of space. Al-Aasam says that because there is no high school in Abu Tulul, most of the children -- especially the girls, who are discouraged from traveling far distances to get to school -- are forced to stop their studies after grade nine ... Abu Tulul is one of eight Bedouin villages that were granted recognised status by the Israeli government
in 2003 as part of the Abu Basma Regional Council. Despite recognition on paper, however, Abu Tulul
continues to suffer from the problems prevalent in unrecognised Bedouin villages throughout the Negev
region, incluing a lack of running water, electricity, paved roads, adequate healthcare and educational
facilities, and other services normally provided by the state.
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=105062

Children of Qalandiya: Occupation starts here / Tamar Fleishman
Pal. Chron. 11 Sept -- I wanted to write about Mahmud, the thirteen-year-old boy that ever since his return from Ofer prison is the first of the children who hurry to greet me on my arrival. Perhaps this is because finally someone has taken an interest in his fate. It isn't often that someone expresses interest and concern for the children of Qalandiya. More than often people make demands of them, reject them and abuse them ... Mahmud said that there were eight people sharing his cell, people of all ages, that the youngest was a boy of ten from Jalazone refugee camp who was serving three months, he said that he himself, Mahmud, wasn't beaten in prison, he was just taken in for interrogation, that he denied having anything to do with the stones that were thrown and that the investigators demanded that he give them names.http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=17099

Legal proceedings, I/P and international

Palestinian petitions Court to probe daughter's deathJPost 12 Sept -- Subhiye
Abu Rahma, the mother of a woman Palestinians claim died after inhaling
tear gas during a West Bank demonstration last December, petitioned the
High Court of Justice on Sunday to order a criminal investigation into
the circumstances surrounding her daughter’s death. The
petitioners claim Jawaher Abu Rahma died after breathing a cloud of tear
gas fired by the IDF during a demonstration against the West Bank
security barrier in Bil’in, 12 km. west of Ramallah.http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Article.aspx?id=237595&R=R2

Fogel family murderer gets 5 life sentencesYnet 13 Sept -- Itamar massacre: Hakim Awad, 18, tells Samaria Military Court he has no regrets, says he murdered five members of Fogel family 'over the occupation.' Defense attorney: Defendant as much a victim as Fogel family was ... During the court hearing, Awad claimed that
Israeli security forces tied up and killed two men from his village. "I
am 18 and in my teenage years. Not any young man of this age thinks
about murder, only a Palestinian man whose land was taken. This is what the state does to me every day.
When I want to leave my village I have to undergo a search which always
involves beatings." http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4121856,00.html

Noam Shalit testifies against Hamas in French court
Ynet
13 Sept -- Father of captive soldier Gilad Shalit goes before Paris'
Criminal Court against 'Hamas heads responsible for abduction' ... Shalit was summoned to testify after filing a
complaint with the court against his son's capturers, whom he alleges
to be Hamas leaders. In the complaint, Shalit said that the
circumstances surrounding his son's imprisonment violate French laws.
The captive soldier holds a French citizenship in addition to his
Israeli one. http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4121678,00.html

UN experts say Israel's blockade of Gaza illegal
GENEVA (Reuters) 13 Sept -- Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip violates
international law, a panel of human rights experts reporting to a U.N.
body said on Tuesday, disputing a conclusion reached by a separate U.N.
probe into Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship ... A panel of five independent U.N. rights experts reporting to the U.N.
Human Rights Council rejected that conclusion, saying the blockade had
subjected Gazans to collective punishment in "flagrant contravention of
international human rights and humanitarian law." The four-year blockade deprived 1.6 million Palestinians living in the enclave of fundamental rights, they said.http://old.news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110913/wl_nm/us_un_gaza_rights

Refugees

UNRWA needs $36 million for Gaza's emergency programsRAMALLAH
(ArabNews) 13 Sept -- The United Nations Relief and Works Agency
(UNRWA) on Tuesday renewed its appeal for urgently needed $ 36 million
for emergency assistance in Gaza Strip ... Chris Gunness, UNRWA
spokesman, said in a press statement that UN "programs in Gaza face a
critical
funding situation. These programs are separate from the agency’s regular
education, health and relief activities, and are specifically tailored
to
address the most urgent humanitarian needs of the most vulnerable
refugees in
Gaza."http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article501307.ece

The State of Palestine never forgets its own / Joharah Baker
Uruknet 12 Sept -- In just over a week’s time, the Palestinians will have made their request to the United Nations to recognize them as a state. Part of this bid is to guarantee that international law is applied to the Palestinians, including laws that guarantee the right of refugees to return to their homes or be compensated for the years of exile and loss of property. Also, before week’s end, the Palestinians will commemorate an event not entirely disconnected with their UN move. Actually, it is very relevant and is the perfect example of why refugees must not be forgotten. Sabra and Shatilla, the two Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon that were the scene of one of the most horrific massacres in Palestinian history, will be remembered and honored by us all, followed by that harrowing vow of "never again." Between September 16 and 18, some 800 to 2,000 people were estimated to have been murdered in the camps by Lebanese Phalangist forces in a 62-hour rampage of rape, murder and terror under the watchful eye and directives of the occupying Israeli army. Dozens of Palestinian men were never accounted for after being taken away and never seen again.http://www.uruknet.info/?new=81370

Hamas opposes tactical Palestinian statehood bidDPA 14 Sept -- The Islamist Hamas movement said Wednesday that President Mahmoud Abbas'
plan to approach the United Nations for recognition of Palestinian
statehood was a "tactical" move, part of a negotiations process, and
therefore could not be backed ... Al-Bardaweel told the workshop that the consequence of getting the UN
to recognize a Palestinian state would also be recognition of Israel's
boundaries. "Going to the UN draws the borders of Israel, which was established on stolen lands and still has no borders," he said. Abbas' UN bid, he explained, would mean that
the Palestinian state would exist only in the West Bank and Gaza Strip,
the territories captured by Israel in the 1967 war, and not in all of
historic Palestine, as Hamas wants.http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/hamas-opposes-tactical-palestinian-statehood-bid-at-un-1.384466

Gazans have mixed feelings over Abbas UN bidReuters 14 Sept -- GAZA CITY (Reuters) -- President Mahmoud Abbas' bid to seek UN
recognition of a Palestinian state is not generating much enthusiasm in
the isolated Gaza Strip, where internal political divisions run deep. The
Islamist Hamas movement, which seized the territory from forces loyal
to Abbas' Fatah party in 2007, sees the move as an exercise in futility
in a quest for statehood. Many Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
seem to agree with that assessment and are asking why the mainstream
Palestinian leadership, based in the West Bank, did not first tackle
problems holding up implementation of a unity deal with Hamas.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420141

PA medics to be in 'state of emergency' during UN bidJPost 14 Sept -- ...the
PA medical services in the West Bank announced a “state of emergency” as
of September 21 in anticipation of violent confrontations with Israel. All
medical teams and ambulances were instructed to report to work on that
day and to be on high alert for the next few days as the PA formally
asks the UN to recognize a Palestinian state. Earlier this week,
the ruling Fatah faction urged Palestinians to take to the streets next
week to voice their support for the statehood bid at the UN. However,
Fatah stopped short of calling for confrontations with Israel.http://www.jpost.com/ArtsAndCulture/Entertainment/Article.aspx?ID=237859&R=R1

Briefing: The Palestinian bid for statehoodRAMALLAH (IRIN) 13 Sept -- ...The precise mechanics of how the proposal will be lodged and which body -
the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council, or both - will vote
on it, remain unclear. An adviser to Abbas said he was not sure what the
process would look like ... Abbas says the Palestinians chose September for three reasons: 1. Successful completion of Palestinian Prime Minister Salam
Fayyad’s ambitious two-year state-building plan, including Palestinian
Authority (PA) reforms and institution-building in preparation for statehood; 2. US President Barack Obama's statement at the UN General Assembly on 23 September 2010 in which he hoped a Palestinian state would have arisen by September 2011; 3. Support for establishing a Palestinian state by this date among the Quartet (UN, USA, European Union and Russia). http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=93709

PLO official: Palestinians, Israelis must be totally separated
Haaretz 14 Sept -- ...Maen Areikat, PLO Ambassador to the United States, made the comment just
as the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, was
preparing to offer up Palestinian statehood to a vote in the United
Nations General Assembly later this month.Answering a question about the legal status of a Jewish minority in
the future state, Areikat apparently rejected the issue, saying: "I
believe, I still believe that as a first step we need to be totally
separated," adding "I think we can contemplate these issues in the
future. After the experience of the last 44 years,
of military occupation and all the conflict and friction, I think it
will be in the best interest that the two peoples should be separated,"
Areikat added. Former U.S. National Security Council official Elliot Abrams responded
to the Palestinian official's comment, saying to USA Today that the
Palestinian demand was "a despicable form of anti-Semitism," adding: "No
civilized country would act this way."
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/plo-official-palestinians-israelis-must-be-totally-separated-1.384493

Turkish PM Erdogan hailed as hero on Cairo visit
CAIRO (AFP) 14 Sept -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan received a
rock star welcome in Cairo where activists, women and the media gushed
over the region's new "hero" over his pro-Palestinian stand and his
virulent criticism of Israel. Erdogan, who on Tuesday kicked off a three-nation Arab Spring tour in
Egypt, threw his weight behind Palestinian statehood during a keynote
speech at the Arab League, bolstering his image as a regional leader. His
visit comes as activists who overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in
February are increasingly angry at their own leadership for backtracking
on promises of reform.http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=420263

Syrian uprising forces Hamas to consider relocating
AlMasryAlyoum 13 Sept -- With governments and political entities across the Arab world
beginning to reconsider their alliances in light of the tumultuous
political situation in the region, Hamas, the political party that
controls the Gaza Strip and resistance movement against Israel, is no
exception.The Syrian government has long hosted the
Hamas' political bureau, including its head, Khaled Meshaal. But with
the Syrian uprising showing no signs of abating, Hamas has found itself
in a predicamenthttp://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/495196

WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks: Al Jazeera deletes from its website content that disturbs the US government
Cable 2005-10-20 ArabCrunch 11 Sept -- ...A confidential US cables from US embassy in Doha, Qatar where Aljazeera
head quarter is located and was published recently on Wikileaks, reveals
that Al Jazeera Managing Director Wadah Khanfar has agreed to US
government request to delete and altar website content that "disturb"
the US government ... In the meeting US government officials raised the question of an Al
Jazeera website piece published listed under the heading "Special Coverage”, and containing “Live Testimony Concerning Tal Afar”. "The site opens to an image of bloody sheets of paper riddled with bullet holes. Viewers click on the bullet holes to access testimony from ten alleged “eye witnesses” who described recent military operations in Tal Afar." Khanfar said said that in accordance with an earlier promise to US
government officials, he had taken a look at the piece and had two
images removed (two injured children in hospital beds, and a woman with
serious facial injury.)http://arabcrunch.com/2011/09/wikileaks-al-jazeera-deletes-its-website-content-that-disturbs-the-us-government.html